Don’t over-egg the auto enrolment challenge

For many small and micro employers, setting up a workplace pension scheme is a journey into unfamiliar territory. Although it’s really encouraging that 90 per cent of small and micros know that auto enrolment is coming, this is only the first step on the path to providing a workplace pension for your staff.

But fear not, despite recent reports indicating that many small and micro employers don’t know their staging date or haven’t chosen their pension provider yet, the journey may be easier than you think.

Here are five reasons why:

Employers know (and like) auto enrolment

According to NEST’s latest research, only a small minority aren’t aware of auto enrolment (10 per cent). Knowing that auto enrolment is coming is half the battle, and means that employers can plan how to deliver it in good time. We also know, from NEST insight 2015, that small and micro employers agree with the policy of providing a pension for their workers. They want to do the right thing.

Almost half don’t know their staging date but it’s easy to find out

If employers don’t know their staging date, there’s a simple way to find out. With just a few clicks on The Pension Regulator’s website an employer can know when they need to start enrolling their staff. Employers can even log in from their mobile, they just need to know their PAYE reference number.

It’s getting easier because we’re all learning

Auto enrolment started in October 2012. That’s almost 3 years ago and in that time the pension industry has been learning from the experiences of employers, members and intermediaries. That means we understand what works. We now have a much clearer idea of employer needs and have evolved our systems to meet them.

It’s getting easier because of technology developments

As well as learning, we’ve all been building. There have been a number of new technological advances with auto enrolment that make the process easier. At NEST, employers can use tools like NEST Connect to hand over the admin of their scheme to an intermediary. If they want to manage auto enrolment in-house, our new web services functionality (going live later this year) means employers can choose to complete their auto enrolment admin through their payroll software.

Around 9 in 10 don’t know which pension provider they’ll use but there’s a quality provider that is open for all

Employers who haven’t chosen a scheme don’t need to look far. They can be confident that with NEST they will always have a quality scheme open to them. NEST was set up by government for auto enrolment, so employers can be confident it meets and exceeds government requirements. NEST is already working with over 24,500 employers and has over 2.3 million members and is ready to accept any employer that wants to use it.